It is a little hard to describe what an Estuarium
actually is since it does not seem to fit into any one box. The Dauphin Island Estuarium is a nice aquarium which we concentrated on this time, a beach boardwalk which would be challenging on this blustery day, but the primary function seems to be research and teaching the interface between fresh river water and the ocean which also defines Mobile Bay.
As some initial examples the alligator is primarily fresh or very slightly brackish water, turtles can be either or both, and the sea anemone is definitely a sea creature.
The little puffer fish here is one of Lori's favorite because as I pointed out in the Albuquerque Aquarium one swelled up and tried to intimidate her in Hawaii. Sleek little guys they can suck in water to become almost as round as they are long to appear big and scary to predators.
I am fascinated by the jelly fish which several aquariums like the Seattle Aquarium now put in a slowly circulating tank and often use changing colored lights to illuminate their translucent bodies. Swimmers and ocean kayakers do not find them quite as fascinating due to the very painful sting from the tenticals. Hint, use meat tenderizer.
My real favorite is the eel here reaching way out of his home for a better look around. Normally he is tucked way back with only a nose and eyes showing until something delicious arrives.
One of the masters of disguise is the flounder with spots mimicking the bottom gravel. They have spent so much time hiding that the eyes have actually migrated to one side. Score one for evolution in that random genetic variations with a marginally higher survival rate eventually come to dominate a species.
A lot of people have hermit crabs as pets and I think we did also when the kids were young. The Care of Hermit Crabs is rather more complex than I remember we were doing which is probably the reason ours did not live for a long time. These appear to be thriving and will come up to check you out.
While hermit crabs may be good as pets, the lobsters are delicious with a little melted butter and bread crumbs. Unfortunately, I was at Red Lobster once and they served me a pregant female so the greasy black eggs sprayed all over everything when I cut into it and I have not been able to eat lobster since.
Saving the best for last the Octopus is far and away Lori's favorite. This one mostly stayed curled up in the rocks, but if you stood close it would climb down and tap on the glass hoping to get to know you better, or just get a taste. Unfortunately an octopus is very intelligent but very short lived and rarely last more that about five years even in captivity.